Abstract: This article approaches the problem of the precative
qatal in Biblical Hebrew from a cognitive and typological perspective. In keeping
with the cognitive understanding of “meaning,” the article (re-)construes a
plausible chaining procedure that relates the precative qatal to the prevailing
indicative (perfect, perfective and past) domain of the gram. This chaining
represents a typologically plausible scenario for rationalizing, on both conceptual and diachronic levels,
the “spread” that can be observed from the central point of the network (the
Proto-Semitic resultative proper sense) to the different values available in
Biblical Hebrew. In this way, the article relates the two, superficially
contradictory, semantic spheres (i.e., the perfect-perfective-past indicative
and the precative), and advances a holistic-synchronic definition of the total semantic
potential of the gram. To access the article directly please go to:http://www.jhsonline.org/Articles/article_184.pdf